4 Tips For Shredded Abs

Generations of humans have been experimenting to find the ultimate shredded abs formula.

Many have tried, many have failed, but a few determined ones actually succeeded. It's your turn to use the tips on yourself. May the force be with you.

The basics:

1. Don't make the biggest mistake
2. Lose the fat that's hiding your abs no matter how strong they are
3. Clean up your nutrition
4. Challenge your abdominal muscles to make them even stronger

1. Don't make the biggest mistake

This is what never works: trying to lose the fat around your belly by doing exercises that focus only on strengthening your abs. Why?

Spot reducing does not exist. You can't lose fat from a specific part of your body. You can only attack all fat at once.

Pro tip: Abs exercises (crunches, sit-ups) usually don't burn as much calories as the more complex movements (squats, burpees...). Prioritize full body workouts and add quick ab routines at the end if you feel like putting in extra work. Check this blog post for a fast ab routine that you can do in less than 15 minutes.

2. Lose the extra fat

Work your whole body. Push yourself with every workout. Sweat. The cardio routines in the Madbarz app are designed to help you achieve that goal. It's important to keep it high intensity, the more effort you put in, the more energy you will use from your fat stores.

If you run out of ideas, you can always sprint. A high intensity sprint training can boost your metabolism for the whole day. And don't forget - every step during a sprint workout engages your abdominals, too.

Pro tip: Make your legs tired. The legs are the biggest muscle group in our body. After a tough leg exercise, your body needs more energy to recover and if your diet is clean, you'll be burning the extra fat just like that.

3. Clean up your nutrition

Avoid processed food, sugary drinks and alcohol. If you had to choose only one rule, that would be it. Why? Eating whole foods helps you create the necessary calorie deficit while staying healthy and full of nutrients. It's important if you want to stay strong while getting lean.

Don't snack around. Opt for 5-6 smaller meals or 3 regular ones. Just a few bites here and there can ruin your progress by deactivating the fat loss effect of your workout. Fill yourself with protein, vegetables and add a small amount of healthy fats to stay full longer.

Pro tip: Balance your carb intake. Rice, pasta, bread and alike are not your enemy. But they get easily stored as fat. Increase them on extra hard training days and adjust the amounts according to your energy needs.

Not sure how much you should eat? No ideas for tasty, healthy meals? Get the Nutrition Guide to reveal your sixpack. Nutrition Guide is available in the Madbarz Premium, along with home workout plans!

4. Challenge your core

Feel the muscles burn. From V-holds to heel touches, you can choose anything that's hard enough for you to reach that sweet spot of progress. Abs exercises are important, you just have to use them for gaining strength, not fat loss.

Quality over quantity. Adding a killer abs routine to your workout plan twice a week is better than trying to do abs every day until it gets boring. Focus is key. Don't do it because you have to, do it because you want it.

Pro tip: Check your breathing pattern. Make sure to fully exhale instead of holding your breath in. It brings your every rep to a whole new level by engaging even the deepest muscles of your core.

TAKEAWAY:

Shredded abs are not for everyone. You can be fit without them, too, but you will get them only if you give up something in return. Every good choice takes you a step closer to the goal, but every bad choice will take you two steps back. Create your own personal six pack formula. And stick to it.